|
|
April 30, 1999/14 Iyar 5759, Vol. 51, No.31
Mansion becomes focus of Jerusalem debate
GIL SEDAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - A stately 100-year-old mansion in eastern Jerusalem has repeatedly been the focal point of Israeli-Palestinian tensions over the city both sides claim as their capital.
Now, with Israeli elections only a few weeks off, and with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat still mulling whether to declare statehood when the interim period of peacemaking ends next week, Orient House has once again become the object of a tug of war.
Last week, Israel called for the closure of offices at Orient House, which serves as the Palestinian Authority's de facto headquarters in Jerusalem. The closure order against Orient House was issued by the Security Cabinet after the top Palestinian official in Jerusalem, Faisal Husseini, hosted some 30 diplomats there on April 21 - Israel's Independence Day.
Although the order may take some time to implement through the proper legal channels, which will give Palestinian officials the opportunity to appeal the move, the Security Cabinet's decision was the latest sortie in the political battle for Jerusalem. Defending the order, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Husseini's decision to host the meeting as an example of "unusual chutzpah." Not only had the meeting taken place on the day marking Israel's 51st birthday, the premier said, but Husseini had greeted the diplomats by saying: "Welcome to the capital of the Palestinian people, Jerusalem."
"The people of Israel are not willing to tolerate this," said Netanyahu, "and I am not willing to tolerate this." Critics of Netanyahu - Israelis and Palestinians alike - linked the closure order to the election campaign.
For his part, Husseini, who serves as the Palestinian official responsible for Jerusalem affairs, said there was nothing new about the meeting with the diplomats; indeed, that he had held "thousands" of similar meetings in the past, with no Israeli intervention.
Netanyahu has in the past explained the lack of Israeli action against Orient House by downplaying the importance of those meetings, Husseini said. Husseini acknowledged that he referred to Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state - "just as you refer to it as the capital of Israel."
He also accused the Israeli government of trying to sow unrest between Jerusalem's Arab and Jewish residents.
|
